Editors: Dr Maebh Harding and Dr Deirdre McGowan

ISBN: 9781911611875

Format: Paperback

Extent: Approx 400 pages

Publishing: Autumn 2022

In the last 50 years, Irish family law and Irish social attitudes towards the family have changed beyond recognition. Although the constitutional idea of the family is still based on marriage, family law now embraces and provides for a diversity of family forms.  With the introduction of divorce Ireland has moved from a system which attached shame to the breakdown of marriage to one that provides for the reality of modern family life.  Contemporary  law now centres around the rights of children and promotes a child-focused approach to dispute resolution.

Family Law in Context takes a new critical approach to teaching family law, grounding the law in its social context and drawing on the latest research. Each chapter is written by an Irish family law academic with experience of research-led university teaching.

Chapters Include

Introduction
What is the family in Irish Law?
Formation and validity of marriage.
Ending marriage: Judicial Separation and Divorce
Financial consequences of ending marriage: Private ordering
Financial consequences of ending marriage: Court ordered proper provision
Cohabitation
Protection from family abuse
Children’s rights in family law
Children and parents
Public child law
Adoption
Irish family law in a cross border context

Contributors include
Dr Lydia Bracken, Dr Connie Healy, Dr Fergus Ryan, Dr Susan Leahy, Dr Fiona Broughton Coveney, Dr Kathryn O’Sullivan, Dr Máire Ní Shuilleabhain, Dr Brian Tobin, Dr Maebh Harding and Dr Deirdre McGowan.

Who Should Buy This Book?
Family Law in Context provides a comprehensive yet accessible foundational text supporting students and lecturers in meeting the learning outcomes of child and family law modules across universities and colleges in Ireland. Family Law in Context goes beyond an exposition of the law, engaging with debates on the nature of family law and law’s impact on the forms of family life it seeks to regulate. In doing so it supports students in thinking critically about family law in Ireland.

About the Editors
Dr Maebh Harding is a law lecturer at the School of Law, University College Dublin.

Dr Deirdre McGowan is a lecturer in law at Technological University Dublin